‘Several hundred thousand dollars’ gone in bad bank transfer, Kansas DA says of scam
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett says he can’t say much yet about a bad bank transfer that left a six-figure sum of money for a property closing in the wrong account.
But he is warning banks, title companies and real estate agents to be diligent in checking every aspect of financial transactions for accuracy before pushing them through.
In a case his office’s consumer protection division recently began investigating, Bennett said “several hundred thousand dollars” ended up in an “illegitimate bank account” after someone tricked parties involved in a property sale with fake email addresses that were so close to the real ones no one noticed until it was too late.
In the altered email addresses, only a single letter or digit had been changed from the legitimate ones, making them difficult to spot with a cursory glance.
“This ultimately contributed to the funds being sent to an illegitimate bank account,” the DA’s Office said in a recent news release announcing the scam.
Now, Bennett says, his investigators are working to figure out who is responsible.
“How the scammers knew about the transaction, knew who to contact and were able to effectively implement this scam are questions that are currently under investigation,” Bennett said in response to questions from The Eagle asking for more information about how this happened, who it involved and when.
Bennett said he couldn’t say much more, “as this is an active investigation.”
But “someone knew enough to ask and who to send the request to,” he said.
In the meantime, Bennett says banks, title companies and real estate agents need to check out the email addresses of anyone associated with a transaction or who is asking for any amount of money to be transferred.
He suggests they “take the time to call and confirm” the identity, contact information and bank account and routing numbers where money is due to be sent electronically.
“This is not the first time this sort of fraud has been perpetrated in the area,” the DA’s Office said.
Scams can be reported to local authorities and to the Federal Trade Commission at www.reportfraud.ftc.gov.
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